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Thursday, 16 April 2015

Those of you who have been reading me for a significant length of time know that I've played the predecessors, Darksouls, Demonsouls, not so much demon souls 2, but... Dark and Demon. And they were okay. I liked them, but never really felt any need to continue to play them. Completed a boss or two, but then I just stopped. I never thought about grinding to get better when I couldn't continue, I never thought about playing for the sake of playing, but with Bloodborne I actually have been doing all of these things.

Whether it's because of the differences or because I'm a different, less easily frustrated person.
Don't get me wrong, I still get frustrated with hte game from time to time, but less because of feeling like the games too hard, and more because I feel like I've done something wrong. It's one of those games that makes you feel like if you die its because you got stupid.

The main differences between Bloodborne and the Souls series are the setting - victorian horror era instead of fantasy castle horror era - and the weapons.
Souls used very traditional swords, axes, heavy weapons, etc... most importantly they had shields. One of the biggest most common tactics I ever saw in Souls was sit behind the shield and pray. Well Bloodborne doesn't have shields.
Aparently the Developer of the games hated that people just hid behind their shields and killed the monsters (though trust me when I say it wasn't bloody easy). So they removed them and replaced them with guns. pistols, shotguns, etc... which made the gameplay all about dodging and attackign when you could. The guns have some uses but they're not designed to replace close range combat.
Rather than the simple weapons in Souls Bloodborne uses 'trick weapons' which basically means weapons with two forms. usually a quick weak form and a slow strong form, which makes for some interesting gameplay. At the time of writing this review I was using a weapon that was both a giant hammer and a quick longsword and one of the most difficult, yet satisfying things I've done is learn to combine the two forms in combat.
Darting in and dealing quick attacks when the enemy is moving fast then switchign to the heavier weapon mode mid attack when he slows down a bit.

In Souls there was a lot less to it, so for me at least it was a lot more boring.

I actually have really enjoyed Bloodborne. Don't get me wrong I get my ass handed to me a lot and i'm not very far through it, but I still like it.

If you want to watch me getting my ass handed to me by monsters weak and strong then you can watch me streaming (or watch old recordings of me playing) Bloodborne at http://www.twitch.tv/dantejcross

Monday, 13 April 2015

Thats right! Loot Crate! I've actually had it for a while now i just kept forgetting to post. Sorry. my bad!

Here it is;

So this one wasn't quite as good as the last few, but it did still have one or two things i really liked. I've been a huge fan of Marvel's Agents of Shield for a while now and on multiple occasions considered dressing as Phil Coulson for Halloween when I go to the states in february. Each time I've changed my mind and gone on to work on a post-apocalyptic spiderman design. But the offical Agents of Shield Laminate prop that I got in this box makes me want to do that again!

I also quite liked the idea of the watch (though I'd never wear it) and I do like hte t-shirt, though I don't think I'd buy it if I just saw it in the shop. Also the paracord bracelets cool, but I have a few of them already. It would have been cooler if they'd given the paracord, the clips and instructions on how to make it yourself. but thats just my opinion.

Overall it was alright, but a lot of stuff I'd give away.

There was one more interesting thing about it that I didnt bother with because by the time I got the crate the internet had thoroughly completed it; there was an augmented reality game where they give you clues to solve a bunch of riddles for a competition (I think) which is very cool and I wish i'd gotten the box earlier so I could have taken part, but alas the UK takes way too long to get it and the US aren't about to wait.

Next one should be awesome. it's titled 'Fantasy' and the video trailer is all about DnD.

Friday, 10 April 2015

I just hit 20000 views. thats a pretty big deal for me! I also got put into a couple of 'great blogger' and 'bloggers to watch' lists, which is pretty cool. I guess they didn't get the memo that I'm not good at updating. Probably I didn't send it.

That's great news for me, but while i was finding that out my friend Rixel/Elizabeth was finding out some really bad news. She wrote a post about it on her Tublr asking for support, and I wanted to help out. This is the only place I really have to get my voice out there, so here's the post;

Too Long? Didn't Read?;
Basically Elizabeth's 17 year old neice was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and begins chemotherapy next week.
Liz isn't asking for money, she's simply asking for art. Any kind. Music, writing, pictures. Their whole extended family is going ot Disneyland in june and she wants to plaster the walls with as much supportive artwork as possible.

If you have the time to do something like this it would be greatly appreciated, and you can send it to me at James@minority-opinions.com

Thank you, for reading. anything big or small, intricate or simple would be amazing.